An accumulation of snow is usually removed from pavement by a truck that is provided with a snowplow having a moldboard mounted on the front end of the truck. Typically, the plowing operation leaves some amount of snow or ice or slush on the pavement being cleared. When the snow or ice is packed down on the pavement surface, the ability of the moldboard to remove all or substantially all of the snow and ice is significantly reduced.
During a plowing operation, it is conventional to raise and lower the moldboard of the snow plow as desired and to change the angle that the moldboard of the snow plow makes with the longitudinal center axis of the truck, and therefore with respect to the longitudinal axis of the lane of pavement being cleared.
The moldboard of the snow plow may be selectively raised and lowered so that the plow truck may be driven with the lowermost edge of the moldboard either in contact (for conducting a plowing operation) or out of contact with the road, such as when the truck is being driven over pavement which has already been cleared of snow. Also, the snow plow is typically arranged to enable the angle of the plow with respect to the truck to be changed so that the snow plow can be used to divert snow to the left or to the right of the truck or used to push snow directly in front of the truck such as when clearing a driveway or parking lot.
A wing plow or another attachment may be provided to effectively extend the width of the lane that can be plowed by a single truck in a single pass. Such wing plows are typically mounted at one side of the truck.
Snow plow vehicles at airfields may sometimes have a front plow blade and a broom which is towed by the vehicle.
The need remains for a snowplow arrangement in which some or essentially all of the snow, ice and slush which has been left by the moldboard may be removed from the pavement being plowed in a single pass of a snowplow vehicle.